Introduction to

Network Function
.

Virtualization (NFV)
Raj Jain
Washington University in Saint Louis
Saint Louis, MO 63130
Jain@cse.wustl.edu
These slides and audio/video recordings of this class lecture are at:
http://www.cse.wustl.edu/~jain/cse570-13/
Washington University in St. Louis http://www.cse.wustl.edu/~jain/cse570-13/ 2013 Raj Jain
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 Overview

1. What is NFV?
2. NFV and SDN Relationship
3. ETSI NFV ISG Specifications
4. Concepts, Architecture, Requirements, Use cases
5. Proof-of-Concepts and Timeline
Note: This is 4th module of four modules on OpenFlow,
OpenFlow Controllers, SDN and NFV in this course.
Washington University in St. Louis http://www.cse.wustl.edu/~jain/cse570-13/ 2013 Raj Jain
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 Four Innovations of NFV

4. Standard APIs between Modules

3. Implementation in Virtual Machines

2. Network Function Modules

1. Software implementation of network

Washington University in St. Louis http://www.cse.wustl.edu/~jain/cse570-13/ 2013 Raj Jain

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 Network Function Virtualization (NFV)
1. Fast standard hardware Software based Devices
Routers, Firewalls, Broadband Remote Access Server (BRAS)
A.k.a. white box implementation
2. Function Modules (Both data plane and control plane)
DHCP (Dynamic Host control Protocol), NAT (Network
Address Translation), Rate Limiting,

vBase Stations
Residential Set Top
DNS DHCP CDN
LTE 3G 2G Gateway NAT Box

Hardware
Hardware Hardware

Ref: ETSI, NFV Update White Paper, Oct 2013, http://www.tid.es/es/Documents/NFV_White_PaperV2.pdf (Must read)
Washington University in St. Louis http://www.cse.wustl.edu/~jain/cse570-13/ 2013 Raj Jain
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 NFV (Cont)
3. Virtual Machine implementation
Virtual appliances
All advantages of virtualization (quick provisioning,
scalability, mobility, Reduced CapEx, Reduced OpEx, )

VM VM VM

Hypervisor

4. Standard APIs: New ISG (Industry Specification Group) in

ETSI (European Telecom Standards Institute) set up in
November 2012
Washington University in St. Louis http://www.cse.wustl.edu/~jain/cse570-13/ 2013 Raj Jain
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Why We need NFV?
1. Virtualization: Use network resource without
worrying about where it is physically located,
how much it is, how it is organized, etc.
2. Orchestration: Manage thousands of devices
3. Programmable: Should be able to change behavior on the fly.
4. Dynamic Scaling: Should be able to change size, quantity
5. Automation
6. Visibility: Monitor resources, connectivity
7. Performance: Optimize network device utilization
8. Multi-tenancy
9. Service Integration
10. Openness: Full choice of Modular plug-ins
Note: These are exactly the same reasons why we need SDN.
Washington University in St. Louis http://www.cse.wustl.edu/~jain/cse570-13/ 2013 Raj Jain
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NFV and SDN Relationship
Concept of NFV originated from SDN
First ETSI white paper showed overlapping Venn diagram
It was removed in the second version of the white paper
NFV and SDN are complementary.
One does not depend upon the other.
You can do SDN only, NFV only, or SDN and NFV.
Both have similar goals but approaches are very different.
SDN needs new interfaces, control modules, applications.
NFV requires moving network applications from dedicated
hardware to virtual containers on commercial-off-the-shelf
(COTS) hardware
NFV is present. SDN is the future.
Virtualization alone provides many of the required features
Not much debate about NFV.

Washington University in St. Louis http://www.cse.wustl.edu/~jain/cse570-13/ 2013 Raj Jain

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Mobile Network Functions
Switches, e.g., Open vSwitch
Routers, e.g., Click
Home Location Register (HLR),
Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN),
Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN),
Combined GPRS Support Node (CGSN),
Radio Network Controller (RNC),
Serving Gateway (SGW),
Packet Data Network Gateway (PGW),
Residential Gateway (RGW),
Broadband Remote Access Server (BRAS),
Carrier Grade Network Address Translator (CGNAT),
Deep Packet Inspection (DPI),
Provider Edge (PE) Router,
Mobility Management Entity (MME),
Element Management System (EMS)
Washington University in St. Louis http://www.cse.wustl.edu/~jain/cse570-13/ 2013 Raj Jain
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 ETSI NFV ISG
ETSI NFV ISG Network Operators Council

Technical Steering Committee

INF WG MANO WG SWA WG REL WG Security EG PER EG

Industry Specification Group (ISG)s goal is to define the

requirements.
Four Working Groups:
INF: Architecture for the virtualization Infrastructure
MANO: Management and orchestration
SWA: Software architecture
REL: Reliability and Availability, resilience and fault
tolerance
Ref: M. Cohn, NFV, An Insiders Perspective: Part 1: Goals, History, and Promise, Sep 2013,
http://www.sdncentral.com/education/nfv-insiders-perspective-part-1-goals-history-promise/2013/09/
Washington University in St. Louis http://www.cse.wustl.edu/~jain/cse570-13/ 2013 Raj Jain
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 ETSI NFV ISG (Cont)
Two Expert Groups:
Security Expert Group: Security
Performance and Portability Expert Group: Scalability,
efficiency, and performance VNFs relative to current
dedicated hardware

Washington University in St. Louis http://www.cse.wustl.edu/~jain/cse570-13/ 2013 Raj Jain

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 NFV Specifications
1. NFV Use cases (GS NFV 001)
2. NFV Architectural Framework (GS NFV 002)
3. Terminology for Main Concepts in NFV (GS NFV 003)
4. NFV Virtualization Requirements (GS NFV 004)
5. NFV Proof of Concepts Framework (GS NFV-PER 002)

Ref: ETSI, Network Function Virtualization, http://www.etsi.org/technologies-clusters/technologies/nfv

Washington University in St. Louis http://www.cse.wustl.edu/~jain/cse570-13/ 2013 Raj Jain
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 NFV Concepts
Network Function (NF): Functional building block with a
well defined interfaces and well defined functional behavior
Virtualized Network Function (VNF): Software
implementation of NF that can be deployed in a virtualized
infrastructure
VNF Set: Connectivity between VNFs is not specified, e.g.,
residential gateways
VNF Forwarding Graph: Service chain when network
connectivity order is important, e.g., firewall, NAT, load
balancer
NFV Infrastructure (NFVI): Hardware and software required
to deploy, mange and execute VNFs including computation,
networking, and storage.
Ref: ETSI, Architectural Framework, Oct 2013, http://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_gs/NFV/001_099/002/01.01.01_60/gs_NFV002v010101p.pdf
Ref: ETSI, NFV Terminology for Main Concepts in NFV, Oct 2013, http://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_gs/NFV/001_099/003/01.01.01_60/gs_NFV003v010101p.pdf
Ref: W. Xu, et al., Data Models for NFV, IETF Draft, Sep 2013, http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-xjz-nfv-model-datamodel-00
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 Network Forwarding Graph
An end-to-end service may include nested forwarding graphs

VNF 2A VNF 2C
End End
VNF 1 VNF-3
Point Point
VNF 2B

Virtualization Layer

Hardware

Ref: ETSI, Architectural Framework, Oct 2013,

http://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_gs/NFV/001_099/002/01.01.01_60/gs_NFV002v010101p.pdf
Washington University in St. Louis http://www.cse.wustl.edu/~jain/cse570-13/ 2013 Raj Jain
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 NFV Concepts (Cont)
NFVI Point of Presence (PoP): Location of NFVI
NFVI-PoP Network: Internal network
Transport Network: Network connecting a PoP to other PoPs
or external networks
VNF Manager: VNF lifecycle management e.g., instantiation,
update, scaling, query, monitoring, fault diagnosis, healing,
termination
Virtualized Infrastructure Manager: Management of
computing, storage, network, software resources
Network Service: A composition of network functions and
defined by its functional and behavioral specification
NFV Service: A network services using NFs with at least one
VNF.
Washington University in St. Louis http://www.cse.wustl.edu/~jain/cse570-13/ 2013 Raj Jain
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 NFV Concepts (Cont)
User Service: Services offered to end
users/customers/subscribers.
Deployment Behavior: NFVI resources that a VNF requires,
e.g., Number of VMs, memory, disk, images, bandwidth,
latency
Operational Behavior: VNF instance topology and lifecycle
operations, e.g., start, stop, pause, migration,
VNF Descriptor: Deployment behavior + Operational
behavior
NFV Orchestrator: Automates the deployment, operation,
management, coordination of VNFs and NFVI.
VNF Forwarding Graph: Connection topology of various
NFs of which at least one is a VNF
Washington University in St. Louis http://www.cse.wustl.edu/~jain/cse570-13/ 2013 Raj Jain
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 NFV Architecture
NFV Management and Orchestration
Os-Ma
OSS/BSS
Orchestration

Service VNF and Se-Ma

EMS 1 EMS 2 EMS 3 Or-Vnfm
Infrastructure
Description
Ve-Vnfm
VNF 1 VNF 2 VNF 3
VNF Managers
Vn-Nf
Or-Vi
NFVI
Vi-Vnfm
Virtual Computing Virtual Storage Virtual Network
Nf-Vi
Virtualized
Virtualization Layer Infrastructure
Managers
VI-Ha

Computing Hardware Storage Hardware Network Hardware

Execution Reference Points Main NFV Reference Points Other NFV Reference Points

Ref: ETSI, Architectural Framework, Oct 2013,

http://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_gs/NFV/001_099/002/01.01.01_60/gs_NFV002v010101p.pdf
Washington University in St. Louis http://www.cse.wustl.edu/~jain/cse570-13/ 2013 Raj Jain
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 NFV Reference Points
Reference Point: Points for inter-module specification
1. Virtualization Layer-Hardware Resources (VI-Ha)
2. VNF NFVI (Vn-Nf)
3. Orchestrator VNF Manager (Or-Vnfm)
4. Virtualized Infrastructure Manager VNF Manager (Vi-Vnfm)
5. Orchestrator Virtualized Infrastructure Manager (Or-Vi)
6. NFVI-Virtualized Infrastructure Manager (Nf-Vi)
7. Operation Support System (OSS)/Business Support Systems
(BSS) NFV Management and Orchestration (Os-Ma)
8. VNF/ Element Management System (EMS) VNF Manager
(Ve-Vnfm)
9. Service, VNF and Infrastructure Description NFV
Management and Orchestration (Se-Ma): VNF Deployment
template, VNF Forwarding Graph, service-related information,
NFV infrastructure information
Ref: ETSI, Architectural Framework, Oct 2013, http://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_gs/NFV/001_099/002/01.01.01_60/gs_NFV002v010101p.pdf
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NFV Framework Requirements
1. General: Partial or full Virtualization, Predictable performance
2. Portability: Decoupled from underlying infrastructure
3. Performance: as described and facilities to monitor
4. Elasticity: Scalable to meet SLAs. Movable to other servers.
5. Resiliency: Be able to recreate after failure.
Specified packet loss rate, calls drops, time to recover, etc.
6. Security: Role-based authorization, authentication
7. Service Continuity: Seamless or non-seamless continuity after
failures or migration

Ref: ETSI, NFV Virtualization Requirements,, Oct 2013, 17 pp.,

http://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_gs/NFV/001_099/004/01.01.01_60/gs_NFV004v010101p.pdf
Washington University in St. Louis http://www.cse.wustl.edu/~jain/cse570-13/ 2013 Raj Jain
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NFV Framework Requirements (Cont)
8. Service Assurance: Time stamp and forward copies of
packets for Fault detection
9. Energy Efficiency Requirements: Should be possible to put
a subset of VNF in a power conserving sleep state
10. Transition: Coexistence with Legacy and Interoperability
among multi-vendor implementations
11. Service Models: Operators may use NFV infrastructure
operated by other operators

Washington University in St. Louis http://www.cse.wustl.edu/~jain/cse570-13/ 2013 Raj Jain

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 NFV Use Cases
Cloud:
1. NFV infrastructure as a service (NFVIaaS) like IaaS
2. Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) as a service (VNFaaS)
like SaaS
3. VNF forwarding graphs (Service Chains)
4. Virtual Network Platform as a Service (VNPaaS) like PaaS
Mobile:
5. Virtualization of the Mobile Core Network and IMS
6. Virtualization of Mobile Base Station
Data Center:
7. Virtualization of CDNs
Access/Residential:
8. Virtualization of the Home environment
9. Fixed Access NFV
Ref: ETSI, NFV Use Cases, http://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_gs/NFV/001_099/001/01.01.01_60/gs_NFV001v010101p.pdf
Ref: M. Cohn, NFV Insiders Perspective, Part 2: Theres a Network in NFV The Business Case for SDN, Sep 2013,
http://www.sdncentral.com/education/nfv-insiders-perspective-part-2-theres-network-nfv-business-case-sdn/2013/09/
Washington University in St. Louis http://www.cse.wustl.edu/~jain/cse570-13/ 2013 Raj Jain
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NFV Proof of Concepts (PoCs)
ETSI has formed and NFV ISG PoC Forum.
Following modules have been demoed:
1. Virtual Broadband Remote Access Server (BRAS) by British
Telecom
2. Virtual IP Multimedia System (IMS) by Deutsche Telekom
3. Virtual Evolved Packet Core (vEPC) by Orange Silicon Valley
4. Carrier-Grade Network Address Translator (CGNAT) and
Deep Packet Inspection (DPI), Home Gateway by Telefonica
5. Perimeta Session Border Controller (SBC) from Metaswitch
6. Deep packet inspection from Procera
Most of these are based on Cloud technologies, e.g., OpenStack
Ref: M. Cohn, NFV Group Flocks to Proof-of-Concept Demos, Aug 2013,
http://www.sdncentral.com/technology/nfv-group-flocks-to-proof-of-concept-models/2013/08/
Washington University in St. Louis http://www.cse.wustl.edu/~jain/cse570-13/ 2013 Raj Jain
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 Summary

1. NFV aims to reduce OpEx by automation and scalability

provided by implementing network functions as virtual
appliances
2. NFV allows all benefits of virtualization and cloud computing
including orchestration, scaling, automation, hardware
independence, pay-per-use, fault-tolerance,
3. NFV and SDN are independent and complementary. You can
do either or both.
4. NFV requires standardization of reference points and interfaces
to be able to mix and match VNFs from different sources
5. NFV can be done now. Several of virtual functions have
already been demonstrated by carriers.
Washington University in St. Louis http://www.cse.wustl.edu/~jain/cse570-13/ 2013 Raj Jain
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 Reading List
ETSI, NFV - Update White Paper, Oct 2013,
http://portal.etsi.org/NFV/NFV_White_Paper2.pdf (must read)
ETSI, Network Function Virtualization, http://www.etsi.org/technologies-
clusters/technologies/nfv
ETSI, Architectural Framework, Oct 2013,
http://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_gs/NFV/001_099/002/01.01.01_60/gs_NFV
002v010101p.pdf
ETSI, NFV Terminology for Main Concepts in NFV, Oct 2013,
http://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_gs/NFV/001_099/003/01.01.01_60/gs_NFV
003v010101p.pdf
ETSI, NFV Use Cases,
http://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_gs/NFV/001_099/001/01.01.01_60/gs_NFV
001v010101p.pdf
ETSI, NFV Virtualization Requirements,, Oct 2013, 17 pp.,
http://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_gs/NFV/001_099/004/01.01.01_60/gs_NFV
004v010101p.pdf
M. Cohn, NFV, An Insiders Perspective: Part 1: Goals, History, and
Promise, Sep 2013, http://www.sdncentral.com/education/nfv-insiders-
perspective-part-1-goals-history-promise/2013/09/
Washington University in St. Louis http://www.cse.wustl.edu/~jain/cse570-13/ 2013 Raj Jain
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 Reading List (Cont)
M. Cohn, NFV Insiders Perspective, Part 2: Theres a Network in NFV
The Business Case for SDN, Sep 2013,
http://www.sdncentral.com/education/nfv-insiders-perspective-part-2-
theres-network-nfv-business-case-sdn/2013/09/
M. Cohn, NFV Group Flocks to Proof-of-Concept Demos, Aug 2013,
http://www.sdncentral.com/technology/nfv-group-flocks-to-proof-of-
concept-models/2013/08/
W. Xu, et al., Data Models for NFV, IETF Draft, Sep 2013,
http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-xjz-nfv-model-datamodel-00
CloudNFV, http://www.cloudnfv.com/page1.html
Project Clearwater, http://www.projectclearwater.org/
B. Briscoe, et al., NFV, IETF, March 2012,
http://www.ietf.org/proceedings/86/slides/slides-86-sdnrg-1.pdf
Intel, Open simplified Networking Based on SDN and NFV, 2013, 7 pp.,
http://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/white-
papers/sdn-part-1-secured.pdf
J. DiGiglio, and D. Ricci, High Performance, Open Standard Virtualization
with NFV and SDN,
http://www.windriver.com/whitepapers/ovp/ovp_whitepaper.pdf
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 Acronyms
API Application Programming Interface
BRAS Broadband Remote Access Server
BSS Business Support Systems
CapEx Capital Expenditure
CDN Content Distribution Network
CGNAT Carrier-Grade Network Address Translator
CGSN Combined GPRS Support Node
COTS Commercial-off-the-shelf
DDIO Data Direct I/O Technology
DHCP Dynamic Host control Protocol
DPI Deep Packet Inspection
EMS Element Management System
ETSI European Telecom Standards Institute
GGSN Gateway GPRS Support Node
GPRS
HLR Home Location Register
IaaS Infrastructure as a Service
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 Acronyms (Cont)
IETF Internet Engineering Task Force
IMS IP Multimedia System
INF Architecture for the virtualization Infrastructure
IP Internet Protocol
ISG Industry Specification Group
LSP Label Switched Path
MANO Management and orchestration
MME Mobility Management Entity
NAT Network Address Translation
NF Network Function
NFV Network Function Virtualization
NFVI Network Function Virtualization Infrastructure
NFVIaaS NFVI as a Service
NIC Network Interface Card
OpEx Operational Expences
OS Operating System
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 Acronyms (Cont)
OSS Operation Support System
PaaS Platform as a Service
PE Provider Edge
PGW Packet Data Network Gateway
PoC Proof-of-Concept
PoP Point of Presence
PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network
QoS Quality of Service
REL Reliability, Availability, resilience and fault tolerance group
RGW Residential Gateway
RNC Radio Network Controller
SaaS Software as a Service
SBC Session Border Controller
SDN Software Defined Networking
SGSN
SGW Serving Gateway
Washington University in St. Louis http://www.cse.wustl.edu/~jain/cse570-13/ 2013 Raj Jain
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 Acronyms (Cont)
SIP Session Initiation Protocol
SLA Service Level Aggrement
SWA Software architecture
TAS Telephony Application Server
TMF Forum
vEPC
VM Virtual Machine
VNF Virtual Network Function
VNFaaS VNF as a Service
vSwitch Virtual Switch
VT-d Virtualization Technology for Direct IO
VT-x Virtualization Technology

Washington University in St. Louis http://www.cse.wustl.edu/~jain/cse570-13/ 2013 Raj Jain

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